We fell in love with him as Paul Blart Mall Cop and on the hit show King of Queens. Now Kevin James plays a NASCAR chief in the new show The Crew. WISH-TV’s Entertainment Insider caught up with him to talk about the show making its Netflix premiere on February 15th.
About the Crew:
The Crew stars Kevin James as a NASCAR crew chief for the fictional Bobby Spencer Racing team. When the owner steps down and passes the team off to his daughter Catherine (Jillian Mueller), James has to protect himself and his crew from her attempts to modernize the team. Freddie Stroma portrays Jake Martin, the charismatic driver of the team’s No. 74 Fake Steak-sponsored car. Paris Berelc plays Jessie, a young race car driver who Catherine wants to replace Jake on the Bobby Spencer racing team. Sponsors love the idea of getting a young woman behind the wheel, and unlike Jake, she knows as much about the cars as the mechanics. Sarah Stiles, Gary Anthony Williams and Dan Ahdoot also star.
Jeff Lowell (The Ranch, Two and a Half Men, Spin City) will serve as writer, showrunner and executive producer. Andy Fickman (Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2, Playing With Fire) directed all episodes and serves as an executive producer. James, Jeff Sussman (The King of Queens, Paul Blart) and Todd Garner (Tag, Isn’t It Romantic, Mortal Kombat) will also serve as executive producers. Matt Summers and Tim Clark will executive produce for NASCAR.
He has many roles — Indy car driver, business owner, husband and now dad!
Graham Rahal just had a birthday and has many reasons to celebrate. Mckinzie caught up with him in California. Check it out in the video above.
NASCAR writer Holly Cain joins Dan Lucas on ‘Countdown to Daytona’ to discuss driver reaction to NASCAR’s upcoming rule changes after the Daytona 500 is in the rear view mirror.
They compete in completely different sports, but even NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson sees a parallel between himself and Tom Brady.
Johnson was asked about the similarities between his career in NASCAR and Brady’s in the NFL at the Media Day live broadcast of ‘Countdown to Daytona’ with Dan Lucas and J.B. Biunno.
“We kinda started around the same time,” said Johnson. “We have a similar path and been doing it around the same time.”
Johnson raced in his first Daytona 500 in 2002, exactly two weeks after Brady won his first Super Bowl with the New England Patriots in just his second year in the NFL.
Johnson and Brady would each go on storied championship runs in the years to come. Johnson has won seven Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Championships, while Brady most recently won his sixth Super Bowl earlier this month.
Both athletes have developed a reputation for competing at a high-level into their forties, doing so way past their primes.
“We’ve kind of been on a similar journey,” said Johnson.
Watch the ‘Countdown to Daytona’ live stream all week long here on this website beginning at 1:00pm EST leading up to Race Day!
It seems driver Brad Keselowski got a tad bored of doing interviews at Media Day for the Daytona 500, so he spun the table and started conducting interviews himself.
Keselowski, who was among the final drivers to be interviewed on the live Media Day special for ‘Countdown to Daytona,’ thought it would be more fun to ask questions to show hosts Dan Lucas and J.B. Biunno than spend time talking about the race.
“You guys are dressed nice, by the way,” Keselowski said to Lucas and Biunno as he amusingly dodged questions. “I drive for Roger Penske, and he really appreciates people who dress nice, so he’d like you guys.”
“I’m doing a hell of a job hijacking your interview, too. [It’s been three minutes] and you haven’t asked a single question yet.”
Among Keselowski’s questions, he asked Biunno which college he attended.
When Biunno responded with the Univeristy at Albany, whose athletic teams are the Great Danes, Keselowski continued the fun by barking like dog.
Watch the clip above, and tune in for the ‘Countdown to Daytona’ live stream all week long here on this website beginning at 1:00pm EST leading up to Race Day!
Austin Dillon’s fairy tale final lap to win last year’s Daytona 500 could just be a sign of things to come for the grandson of Richard Childress.
Dillon sat down with Countdown to Daytona’s Dan Lucas to reminisce about the moment he realized he claimed the checkered flag.
“Going down the backstretch, when [Bubba Wallace] gave me that shove, I knew we had the momentum we needed to complete the pass [of Aric Almirola],” said Dillon. “I had all the momentum I needed.”
“That’s such a surreal position to be in, it’s like a dream come true,” said Dillon of crossing the finish line.
Dillon won the Big Race twenty years after Earnhardt did, following his family’s legacy of not just winning in Daytona, but doing so in the storied number-3 car.
“To bring home another one for [Richard Childress Racing], it felt great,” said Dillon.
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Racing legend and NASCAR icon Dale Earnhardt Jr. will drive the pace car at this year’s Brickyard 400.
The 25th Running of the Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard kicks off Sunday, September 9 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Earnhardt released a statement following the announcement:
I am honored that Chevrolet asked me to drive the Camaro ZL1 Pace Car in one of the biggest races of the year. The fan in me was already looking forward to this event. It’s a big race. There is a lot at stake since it’s the final chance for the teams and drivers to make the Playoffs. So, I hope to do a good job leading the field to the green flag, but I can promise you I’ll soak in every minute and enjoy the Brickyard in a way I never have before.
Earnhardt Jr. participated in the race from 2000 – 2017, with his best finish coming in fourth place in 2012.
Earnhardt Jr. will drive a 2018 Camaro ZL1 around the track that can reach 60 miles per hour in 3.5 seconds.
Kurt Busch got a little more aggressive in the first round of qualifying, and it paid off with a pole at Texas Motor Speedway.
Busch and his Stewart-Haas Racing teammates Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer will start in the top three spots in Texas after a weather-shortened qualifying session Friday.
“The thought that weather was in the area, it hadn’t crossed our minds, but yet you’ve got to play all three rounds as smart as you can,” Busch said. “I think round two, we would have picked up even more speed. Round three, that’s where we would have made a big gamble to see if we could still maintain that pace. But I’m glad we had the pace right off the truck.”
With his top lap of 197.368 mph, Busch earned his first pole this season and the 32nd in his career.
There was initially a delay because of lightning in the area soon after the first round had been completed to determine the top 24 drivers. The second and third rounds of qualifying were eventually canceled because of more lightning and threatening weather.
Harvick won at Texas in November and his three-race winning streak earlier this season included the only two races so far at 1 1/2-mile tracks. He had a lap of 197.116 mph and will start ahead of Bowyer, who before the Easter weekend break won at Martinsville two weeks ago to end a 190-race winless streak that dated to 2012.
“We had a good lap and just got beat by a little bit,” Harvick said. “We didn’t really realize that was going to be the last one, but we felt there was a chance. Kept it in the family, and that’s a good thing for Stewart-Haas Racing, and hopefully we can continue the trend of running well for the rest of the weekend.”
FORD FOUR: With Ryan Blaney qualifying fourth, Ford took the top four spots and had half of the top 10. Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr., who qualified fifth and sixth, were among three Toyotas in the top 10, while Chevy had 10.
LET IT RAIN: “I’m in the top 10, let it rain,” Jimmie Johnson said with a laugh after the first round while in the initial delay. While it hadn’t rained before NASCAR made its decision, Johnson got his wish.
“I was just telling Alex (Bowman) we started off and struggled pretty bad. I think the track was just really far off from what we anticipated,” Johnson said. “At the very end of practice, things started going much better for us and popped off a decent lap there and making good gains.”
Johnson is a seven-time Cup winner at Texas. That is a track record like his 1,041 laps led in his first 29 starts.
WHO’S OUT: Nobody, since only 37 cars went through qualifying for the race.